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The Unique Name & The Treasury of Truths of Shaykh Muhammad ibn-al-Habib Small Paperback - 63 pages by Shaykh Mustafa Ahmad al-Alawi

Section relating to the permissibility of 'LOUD DHIKR' taken from opening page:

''Praise belongs to Allah and it is sufficient, and peace on His chosen slaves.

From the slave of his Lord, Ahmad ibn Mustafa al-'Alawi al-Mustaghanami.

Peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.

As for our subject, esteemed brother, I recall the discussion between us during your short visit when I saw you angered at your brothers the 'Alawiyun, as it seemed to me then, not for any wrong they do but just because they are infatuated with having the solitary name on their tongues, and that is their saying ALLAH.

It seemed to you that this requires reproof - we might even say punishment. And this, because they are committed to dhikr of that Name, with cause or without cause. It is the same for them in a dilemma or without one, in a situation not demanding invocation, so that when one of them knocks on the door he says, 'Allah,' and when he stands up he says, 'Allah,' and when he sits down he says 'Allah,' and so on.

You are of the opinion that it is improper to use this name as a dhikr, it not being a form of structured speech according to you - based on what grammarians stipulate as the necessities of grammatical construction in their definition of informative speech. There is no point in my answering you unless it is with the object of seeking mutual understanding and investigating whether what they do is right and proper, and whether it is permissible or not. I present you with this note that through it there may be healing for the breasts and cure for the hearts.

As for your stand on what grammarians lay down as the necessities of grammatical construction in what is considered speech, it is correct, except that the fact escapes you that in this decision of theirs the grammarians are concerned with discursive speech and are far from applying their definition to dhikrs and what distinguishes them from the point of view of lawfulness or unlawfulness, and then what results from that of rewards and the like. If you asked them in their day or this, they would certainly reply, "What we decide is merely a technical term on which we rely in our practice and there is no dispute in a technical term." You must be aware of the fact that the language of the grammarians is not the same as that of the scholars of kalam, and theirs is not the same as that of the fuqaha, nor theirs in turn that of the scholars of hadith and so on, for every group has its technical terms. For us, it follows from this that grammarians are simply concerned with defining informative speech, and are not concerned with distinguishing between legitimate and illegitimate dhikrs. In other words, what grammarians stipulate as the requirements of grammatical construction is particularly for someone who intends to communicate with someone else by his speech. As for someone who does dhikr, he only intends to benefit himself and establish the meaning of that noble Name in his heart through his dhikr, or a purpose of a similar nature.